Lavrov: US pressuring Russia into passing UN resolution on Syria allowing military force

The US is pushing Russia into approving a UN resolution that would allow for military intervention in Syria, in exchange for American support of Syria’s accession to OPCW, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

“Our American partners are starting to blackmail us: ‘If
Russia does not support a resolution under Chapter 7, then we
will withdraw our support for Syria’s entry into the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This is a
complete departure from what I agreed with Secretary of State
John Kerry',” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told
Channel 1's Sunday Time program.

Chapter 7 of the UN charter would allow for potential military
intervention in Syria.

Western countries blinded by 'Assad must go' attitude

The head of Russia’s Foreign Ministry went on to say he was
surprised by the West’s “negligent” approach to the
conflict.

“Our partners are blinded by an ideological mission for
regime change,” said Lavrov. “They cannot admit they
have made another mistake.”

Slamming the West’s intervention in Libya and Iraq, the foreign
minister stated that military intervention could only lead to a
catastrophe in the region. Moreover, he stressed that if the West
really was interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict that
has raged for over two years, they would now be pushing for
Syria’s entry into the OPCW in the first place, not for the
ouster of President Bashar Assad.

“I am convinced that the West is doing this to demonstrate
that they call the shots in the Middle East. This is a totally
politicized approach,” said Lavrov.

The Russian foreign minister pointed out that in the case of a
military scenario, militants would come to power and Syria would
no longer be a secular state. Up to three quarters “of these
guys are Jihadists,” including the most radical groups such
as Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, who
want to create an Islamic Caliphate in Syria and in neighboring
territories, Lavrov said.

As to why the West would want that, Moscow has so far received no
clear answer, but hears “mantras” on the necessity to promote
democracy and protect human rights, said the minister. That is
important, but “responsible politicians should be guided not only
by that. Not to care about stability in a key world region is
absolutely irresponsible,” he added.

According to Lavrov, some experts alleged that “someone is
attempting to create a guided chaos” in the region for their
own benefits. However, the foreign minister said he personally
sees no possible advantages that Western countries would gain if
they were behind moves to stir up instability.

“There’s only an attempt to grasp a straw, and turn a blind
eye to the fact that the world is changing and becoming
multipolar,” Lavrov concluded.

'A repeat of Geneva 2012'

Lavrov harked back to last year’s Geneva accord which was agreed
upon by the international community, including Russia and the US.
However, when the resolution went to the Security Council the US
demanded that Chapter 7 be included.

“History is repeating itself. Once again in Geneva an
agreement has been reached which does not contain any mention of
Chapter 7. But the Security Council wants to redo the document in
their own way to include it.”

He called on the West to observe international law and stop
writing resolutions motivated by their “geopolitical
ambitions.”

‘Both sides must hand over chemical weapons’

Sergey Lavrov has also insisted that opposition forces take part
in the decommissioning of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

“The solutions currently being worked out at the OPCW suggest
that all stocks of Syrian chemical weapons must be brought under
control and ultimately destroyed.”

Lavrov further charged that the West was “not telling the
whole story” by asserting that chemical weapons are only
possessed by the regime, and not the opposition.

He added that the available information provided by the Israelis
confirmed that on at least two occasions, the rebels had seized
areas in which chemical weapons were stored and those arms might
have fallen into their hands.

"According to our estimates, there is a strong probability
that in addition to home-grown labs in which militants are trying
to cook up harmful and deadly concoctions, the data provided by
the Israelis is true,” the Russian FM said.

“Preparatory work for OPCW inspectors to assume control of
chemical weapons storage sites requires that those who fund and
sponsor opposition groups – including extremists – demand that
they hand over the [arms] which have been seized so that they can
be destroyed, pursuant to the Convention on the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons.”

Lavrov added that Russia was not a guarantor for the disarmament
of Syria’s chemical weapons, as Syria’s commitments fell under
the auspices of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which is
internationally administered by the OPCW.

Lavrov said Russia and the US were working out a draft resolution
to be submitted to the OPCW, although several points were yet to
be agreed upon.

Earlier in September, Moscow said it would submit data to the
UNSC proving that the chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb were
used by the rebels. These “purely technical”
documents were handed over to Russia by the Bashar Assad
government and are being examined by Russian specialists. This
data “is an addition to what we already know and to what is
known to…independent experts who give their assessments and
confirm that the opposition regularly resort to provocations,
attempting to accuse the regime of using chemical weapons”
and this way get foreign military support, Lavrov said.

A UN experts team, who investigated the August 21 attack in
Syria, presented a report on their findings, in which they
described the ammunition and substances they discovered on the
scene, but made no conclusions regarding who was behind the
incident.

However, the US, along with Britain and France, moved quickly to
repeat their accusations against the Syrian government. “Such
an approach is neither scientific, nor professional but rather
politicized and ideology-driven,” the Russian foreign
minister stressed.

According to Lavrov, it was no secret that they did not need any
report. Long before the document was prepared, they stated that
they already knew everything from their intelligence findings –
which have never been presented to the public in full, the
Russian minister noted.

“What they did show to us does not convince that the [Syrian]
regime is linked to the episode with the use of chemical
weapons,” Lavrov said.

He reiterated that there is also evidence by eyewitnesses,
including nuns from the Christian monastery close to the scene of
the deadly attack, and journalists who visited the area.
Reporters, Lavrov said, talked to militants who told them that
they “received from abroad munitions that they had never seen
before and did not know how to use them, but they used them in
the end.” There was also an open letter by the Pentagon and
CIA veterans to President Obama, where they say that the rebels
could have used chemical weapons.

Moscow expects the UN experts to go back to Syria to finish their
investigation there, which should include three other incidents
later in August when the Syrian army was attacked with poisonous
gas, Lavrov said.

Logistics of destruction

Sergey Lavrov said that the time frame for the elimination of
Syria’s chemical weapons was not unrealistic.

"The overwhelming majority of the figures as per timing,
term, beginning, finishing of the mission have been suggested by
the American side," he added.

Even if the time frame is feasible, there remains disagreement on
the cost of the venture.

Earlier this week, President Assad said the destruction of
Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal would be a costly venture.

“It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion [US
dollars]. It’s very detrimental to the environment. If the
American administration is ready to pay the money, and to take
responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States,
why don’t they do it?” Assad told Fox News

Lavrov said he had heard of the cost estimate, although during
his negotiations with his US counterpart in Geneva last week, the
figure was much lower. Lavrov said the discrepancy stemmed from
the fact that a professional estimate was in order.

“When OPCW experts visit Syria and view the storage sites for
chemical weapons, they will understand what can be destroyed on
the spot (and this is also possible) with the use of mobile
equipment which a number of states have, and those where special
factories need to be built, as we did when destroying Soviet
chemical weapons stockpiles. But for those which need to be taken
out of the country – toxic substances – will require a special
decision, because the convention considers it essential that the
destruction takes place on the territory of that country which
possesses the chemical weapons,” he said.

Lavrov said legal grounds would need to be found to move forward
in this case, but if all sides could agree in principle, then
drawing up a legally binding document will not be hard.

He further noted the difficulties that would be faced in assuring
the security of both the Syrian and international experts tasked
with bringing the chemical weapons under control and laying the
groundwork for their ultimate destruction.

“We’ve considered that an international presence will be
demanded in those areas where experts are working. We are
prepared to allocate our own servicemen or military police to
take part in those efforts. I do not believe it is necessary to
send in a strong [military] contingency.] It seems to me that it
will be sufficient to send in military observers. It will be
necessary to do it in such a way that the observers will come
from all permanent members of the UN Security Council, Arab
states and Turkey, so that all conflicting sides in Syria
understandthat this contingent represents all external
forces who are collaborating with one or the other conflicting
sides in Syria…so that they don’t resort to provocations,”
he said.

Lavrov reiterated previous statements made during his
negotiations with Secretary of State John Kerry following their
talks in Geneva last week that the opposition was equally
responsible for providing for the safety of OPCW and UN experts
in the country and not allowing for any “provocations.”